Don Allen Smith

Don Allen Smith was born on August 23, 1946, to Bertha Lee Busby and William Robert Smith in Fayette, West Virginia. He passed away on April 13, 2023, at Banner Del E Webb Medical Center, Sun City West after a long illness.

Survivors include his wife Jean (nee Cadman), his son Ryan Chadwick, his daughter Jennifer with Susan Smith (nee Triebsch), his sisters, Ramona (Wayne Thomas), and Catherine (Lewis M. Riley). His brother, William Robert Smith (Donna J Pittman) is deceased.

When he was fifteen years old, Don moved to California to live with his sister. He attended Chaffey High School in Ontario. He joined the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, and for over four years he served on the USS Markab repair ship, reaching the rank of E-5. He was released with an Honorable Discharge.

Don met his wife Jean while vacationing in Freeport, Bahamas in 1976. At that time, Don lived in Wisconsin, and Jean, who was from England, lived in Toronto Canada. A year later, they married and settled in Sussex, Wisconsin, where Don worked for the Hilton Company, in Butler. In 1984 he and Jean and their son moved to California. Don was hired as Production Supervisor at Dunham-Bush, (later renamed Thermal Dynamics), in Ontario. In 2000, after Thermal Dynamics had signed Joint Ventures with Chinese companies, Don became instrumental in setting up and overseeing the production of oil coolers in Nantong, China. He spent over ten years living and working there and retired in 2012.

In 2006, Don and Jean moved to Sun City. He was an avid Green Bay Packer fan, loved college football, NASCAR, and enjoyed playing billiards.